is atheism just 1 continuous religion
or is it like christianity and has different branches?
2007-10-02 06:22:34 · 32 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
How could it have different branches? Its not a set of beliefs - its a term for people who LACK a belief - in god and or gods.
I personally would love to live in a world where it was a redundant term - we don't need a name for people who don't believe in fairies do we? Because so few people do. Sadly the case is not the same with religion.
2007-10-02 06:26:14 · answer #1 · answered by Leviathan 6 · 8⤊ 0⤋
There are many different branches that might fall under the category of atheism for a Christian. There are people who question god's existence (agnostic), question god's existence if you don't define god first (ignostic), don't believe in any god at all but entertain the idea of an afterlife of some sort (pagans and buddhists), believe themselves to be god or the only consciousness in existence (solipsists) or don't believe in any of it and maintain this is the only reality we will ever know (atheists).
Adding to the confusion are the various forms of theism, such as the people of the book which includes Christians, Moslems and Jews who suscribe to the Bible or some version or offshoot thereof, the Gnostics, the Pantheists, the Polytheists (think Norse and ancient Rome) and the Satanists, who kind of would fall into the Judeo Christain tradition as they are actually believers.
So you can have uncertainity about god, one god more than one god, one god in three parts, no god or an antigod god.
After writng all this, I'm considering starting a religion based on half a god. I don't think that has been done before.
2007-10-02 06:36:20 · answer #2 · answered by l m 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Honestly, think about this before you ask it: "I don't believe in God." "I believe there is nature, but I don't believe God created it, which makes me a different kind of Atheist." Come on. Common sense.
And Atheism is a religion for those who say it isn't. It IS a set of beliefs: the belief that there is no God, Messiah, no gods, and no superior beings.
2007-10-02 11:56:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Atheism is more like the anti-religion. Although, technically, it IS a group of people with shared beliefs...they're just logical beliefs instead of fantastic. Not believing in a higher power pretty much lumps you into the atheist category with everyone else.
2007-10-02 06:27:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is like asking if there are different "levels" of not believing in leprechauns. "Well, no, I don't believe in that whole 'Pot 'O Gold' thing; but four-leaved shamrocks don't just 'happen'!"
I assume that you're just asking this so you can imply that atheism is a "religion." Because, you know, since we can't prove OR disprove God, it takes just as much "faith" NOT to believe in Him as to believe.
Not true. Again, do you need "faith" to disbelieve in leprechauns, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster? "Faith" is only necessary if the assertion is antecedently absurd - that is, if it's inconsistent with the main content of our knowledge of the universe. There MAY be a teapot orbiting Pluto; we can't conclusively rule it out at the moment; but that doesn't mean it's rational to assume that it's there. Everything we do know about the universe suggests it's unlikely.
2007-10-02 06:26:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
Atheists don't believe in a deity. It's not a religion. You'll find that atheists tend to be practical, spiritual, and logical. Once in a while, however, an atheist will be open-minded. Then they can really consider themselves agnostic.
Agnostics are open to the idea of a deity and tend to be very spiritual. Otherwise, they just haven't accepted the idea of a deity but aren't ready to dismiss one.
2007-10-02 06:28:03 · answer #6 · answered by Cud_Wick 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's not a religion. What would give you the idea that it was? Does it just make it easier for you to categorize? Some people believe in a set of rules and beliefs made up by other people (religion) and some go their own way.
2007-10-02 06:33:06 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Do you not believe in Unicorns? Then is that one continuous religion or are the people who don't believe in mermaids another branch?
2007-10-02 06:27:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
it had branches but then the christians persecuted many branches of the school of scientific thought and we had to join together into one group that just denies god's existence...(rather than believe with unchurned faith we call our hypethosesis theories and yes the creation theory is one of them...Wait that would be agnostic, kind of...Watch me disappear in a cloud of logic...poof...
2007-10-02 06:32:00 · answer #9 · answered by klover_dso 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
There are no "Branches" it isn't a religion, it is the lack of belief in a single (Or multiple) supreme being. How WOULD you organize a lack of belief?
2007-10-02 06:27:34 · answer #10 · answered by Stephen H 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋